•<>, 


^ 

^^. 


'^■Vs^« 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


I.I 


■^  lU    12.2 

IIS 
lU 


L£    12.0 


I: 
1 

M 


—    11'-'^      i'-^ 

« 6" 

» 

l« 


I 


HiotDgraphic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


33  WEST  MAi^  STREET 

WEB^'.V'  N.Y.  I45E0 

(716)  872-4503 


' 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHIVI/ICIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  l^istoricai  iS/licroreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Tachnical  and  Bibliographic  Notaa/Notas  tachniquaa  at  bibiiographiquas 


Tha  Inatituta  Itaa  attamptad  to  obtain  tlia  baat 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturaa  of  thia 
copy  which  may  ba  bibliographieaiiy  uniqua, 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagaa  in  tha 
raproductlon,  or  which  may  aignlf  icantly  changa 
tha  uaual  mathod  of  filming,  ara  chaclcad  baiow. 


n 


D 
D 


n 


Colourad  covara/ 
Couvartura  da  coulaur 


I     I   Covara  damagad/ 


Couvartura  andommagia 

Covara  raatorad  and/or  iaminatad/ 
Couvartura  raataurta  at/ou  paiiicuiAa 

Covar  titia  miaaing/ 

La  titra  da  couvartura  manqua 

Colourad  mapa/ 

Cartaa  gAographiquaa  an  couiaui 

Colourad  ink  (i.a.  othar  than  blua  or  black)/ 
Encra  da  coulaur  (i.a.  autra  qua  blaua  ou  noira) 


I     I   Colourad  piataa  and/or  iiluatrationa/ 


D 


Pianchaa  at/ou  iiluatrationa  •n  coulaur 


Bound  with  othar  matarlai/ 
Rail*  avac  d'autraa  documanta 


Tight  binding  may  cauaa  ahadowa  or  diatortion 
along  intarior  margin/ 

La  raliura  aarrAa  paut  cauaar  da  I'ombra  ou  da  la 
diatortion  la  long  da  la  marga  intAriaura 

Blank  laavaa  addad  during  raatoration  may 
appaar  within  tha  taxt.  Whanavar  poaaibla.  tha«a 
hava  baan  omittad  from  filming/ 
II  to  paut  qua  cartainaa  pagaa  blanchaa  aJoutAaa 
lora  d'una  raatauration  apparaitaant  dana  la  taxta, 
mala,  ioraqua  cala  Atait  poaaibla,  caa  pagaa  n'ont 
paa  At*  filmiaa. 

Additional  commanta:/ 
Commantairaa  tupplAmantairas; 


L'Inatitut  a  microfilm*  la  maillaur  axamplaira 
qu1i  lui  a  AtA  poaaibla  da  aa  procurar.  Laa  dAtaila 
da  cat  axamplaira  qui  aont  paut-Atra  uniquaa  du 
point  da  vua  bibllographiqua,  qui  pauvant  modif lar 
una  imaga  raproduita,  ou  qui  pauvant  axigar  una 
modification  dana  la  mAthoda  normala  da  fiimoga 
aont  indiquAa  ci-daaaoua. 


D 
D 
D 


D 
D 
D 
D 


Colourad  pagaa/ 
Pagaa  da  coulaur 

Pagaa  damagad/ 
Pagaa  andommagAaa 

Pagaa  raatorad  and/or  iaminatad/ 
Pagaa  raataurAaa  at/ou  palliculAaa 

Pagaa  diacolourad,  atainad  or  foxad/ 
Pagaa  dAcolorAaa,  tachatAaa  ou  pIquAaa 

Pagaa  datachad/ 
Pagaa  dAtachAaa 

Showthrough/ 
Tranaparanca 

Quality  of  print  variaa/ 
QuaiitA  InAgaia  da  I'impraaaion 

Includaa  aupplamantary  matariai/ 
Comprand  :Ju  matArial  aupplAmantaira 

Only  adition  availabia/ 
Saula  Adition  diaponlbia 

Pagaa  wholly  or  partially  obacurad  by  arrata 
alipa,  tiaauaa,  ate,  hava  baan  rafilmad  to 
anaura  tha  baat  poaaibla  imaga/ 
Laa  pagaa  totaiamant  ou  partiallamant 
obacurciaa  par  un  fauillat  d'arrata,  una  palura, 
ate,  ont  AtA  filmAaa  A  nouvaau  da  fapon  A 
obtanir  la  maiiiaura  imaga  poaaibla. 


Tl 
to 


Tl 

P( 
o1 
fii 


Oi 
b« 
th 
ai( 
ot 
fii 

Si4 

or 


n 

sh 
Til 

wl 

Ml 
dif 
an 
ba 
rig 
ra4 
m< 


This  itam  is  filmad  at  tha  raduction  ratio  chackad  balow/ 

Co  documant  aat  filmA  au  taux  da  rAduction  indiquA  ci-dassous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


12X 


ItX 


20X 


26X 


aox 


24X 


28X 


32X 


TIm  copy  filmvd  h«r«  hat  b««n  r«produc«d  thank* 
to  tha  ganaroaity  of: 

Library  Division 

Provincial  Archivei  of  British  Coluntbia 


L'axamplaira  film*  f ut  raproduit  grlca  k  la 
oAnAroaitA  <Ja: 

Library  Division 

Provincial  Archives  of  British  Columbia 


Tha  imagaa  appaarin^  hara  ara  tha  baat  qualitV 
poaaibia  conaidaring  tha  condition  and  lagibility 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  apacificationa. 


Laa  imagaa  auivantan  ont  AtA  raproduitaa  avac  la 
plus  grand  aoin.  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattat*  da  l'axamplaira  filmA.  at  mn 
conformity  avac  laa  conditiona  du  contrat  c« 
filmaga. 


Original  copias  in  printad  papar  covars  ara  filmad 
baginning  wUh  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad  or  illustratad  impras- 
•ion,  or  tha  back  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copiaa  ara  filmad  baginning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  illustratad  impras- 
sion,  and  anding  on  tha  last  paga  with  a  printad 
or  illuatratad  imprassion. 


Las  axamplairaa  originaux  dont  la  couvartura  mn 
papiar  ast  imprim4a  aont  filmia  9n  commandant 
par  la  pramiar  plat  at  an  tarminant  aoit  par  la 
darniAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'impraaaion  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  la  sacond 
plat,  salon  la  cas.  Tous  las  autraa  axamplairaa 
originaux  sont  filmAs  an  comman9ant  par  la 
pramiira  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'imprassion  ou  d'illustration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darniAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  talla 
amprainta. 


Tha  laat  racordad  frama  on  aach  microfiche 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  ^^^  (moaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  symbol  Y  (ri>aaning  "END  "), 
whichavar  applias. 


Un  das  symbolas  suivants  apparaftra  sur  la 
darniira  imaqa  da  chaqua  microficha.  salon  la 
cas:  la  symbols  — »*  signifia  "A  SUIVRE".  la 
symbols  ▼  signifia  "FIN". 


Maps,  platas,  charts,  aic,  may  ba  filmad  at 
diffarant  reduction  ratios.  Thosa  too  larga  to  ba 
antiraly  included  in  ona  axposura  ara  filmad 
baginning  in  tha  uppar  laft  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom.  a&  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Lea  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc..  peuvent  Atre 
filmit  A  des  taux  da  rMuction  difftrants. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clich*.  il  est  filmA  A  partir 
da  Tangle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite. 
et  de  haut  an  bas.  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Lea  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrant  la  mAthoda. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

Lf 


\ 


SPEECH 


or 


'  MR.  MILLER,  OF  NEW  JERSEY. 


ON  THE 


OREGON    QUESTION. 


i        Delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  Mabch  26,  1846. 


WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED   BY  JOHN   T.    TOWERS. 
1846. 


/^o  ^  g  <^i 


8PEECH 


or 


MR.  MILLER,  OF  NE¥  JERSEY. 


Mr.  MILLER  said  that  the  proposition  which  had  just  been  introduced  into 
the  Senate,  proposing  to  fix  a  day  on  which  the  present  discussion  should  close, 
satisfied  him  that  a  disposition  prevailed  in  the  Senate  to  hriuf?  this  long-pro- 
tracted  debate  to  a  conclusion,  as  speedily  as  might  be  consistent  with  a  due 
,  regard  to  the  importance  of  the  subject.  He  would  do  nothing  to  thwart  this 
I  disposition  of  the  Senat*^,  But,  as  the  question  could  not  be  taken  now,  he 
hoped  the  Si  late  would  excuse  him  for  continuing  the  debate  for  another  day. 
ft  had  not  bet  his  intention  to  address  the  Senate  at  all  until  within  a  few 
days  past.  Bui.  finding  from  what  was  transpiring  here  from  day  today,  that 
it  was  .ilmost  imj)ossible  for  any  Senator  to  manifest  his  real  opinion  by 
voting  either  one  way  or  the  other,  on  the  questions  presented,  he  had  deem, 
ed  it  necessary  to  express  his  views  on  the  subject  in  debate.  If  the  matter 
in  discussion  was  not  of  so  serious  a  nature,  it  might  be  a  subject  of  amuse, 
ment  to  notice  the  various  phases  it  had  been  made  to  assume  since  the 
present  discussion  commenced.  At  one  time  the  notice  was  held  up  as  lead- 
ing directly  and  of  necessity  to  war ;  at  another,  it  was  the  best  mode  of 
bringing  the  difficulty  to  a  settlement,  and  of  securing  an  honorable  peace. 
At  one  time  notice  was  the  result  of  the  termination  of  ail  negotiation  ;  at 
another  it  was  to  be  the  helpmate  of  existing  negotiation.  Its  nature  seem- 
ed to  vary  with  the  degrees  of  latitude.  At  one  time  notice  was  to  place  us 
on  the  boundary  of  54*^  40' — a  line  to  fight  for  and  die  by ;  at  another,  it 
must  lead  to  a  compromise  on  49^.  It  seemed  to  fall  and  rise  according  to 
the  temperature  of  gentlemen  who  advocated  it.  Like  the  mercury  in  the 
thermometer,  it  varied  according  to  who  had  his  thumb  upon  the  bulb. 
When  the  question  came  into  the  ardent  hands  of  the  Senator  from  Indiana, 
(Mr.  Hanxegan,)  or  of  the  Senators  from  Illinois  and  Ohio,  (Mr.  Brrrsb 
and  Mr.  Allen,)  immediately  it  rose  to  54**  40' ;  but  no  sooner  did  the  cool 
and  distinguished  Senator  from  South  Carolina  "  put  his  finger  upon  it,'* 
than  straight  it  subsided  to  49*.  The  same  question  thus  presented  itself 
to  diflferent  minds  under  different  aspects,  and  as  leading  to  different  and  even 
opposite  results. 

In  December  last  the  President  of  the  United  States,  in  the  discharge  of 
his  high  duty,  informed  Congress  that  all  attempts  at  negotiation  and  com- 
promise in  reference  to  the  territory  on  the  northwest  coast  of  this  continent 
had  failed  ;  and  reccommended  Congress  to  take  the  first  step  in  a  series  of 
measures  leading  to  an  assertion  of  our  right  to  the  whole  of  Oregon.  On 
hearing  that  message  read,  the  distinguished  Senator  from  MicWgan,  (Mr. 
Cass,)  a  gentleman  of  great  experience,  acting  no  doubt  under  a  high  sense  of 
patriotic  duty,  felt  himself  bound  to  call  for  inf^ormation  relative  to  our  means 


i 


ol  national  defence.  With  this  view,  he  presented  various  resolutions  which 
went  to  call  upon  Congress  to  take  ineasuTs  (or  the  increase  both  of  the 
army  and  the  navy,  and  the  aniiing  of  our  fortitications.  While  the  Senator 
was  thus  taking  measures  looking  to  t'ne  defence  of  the  country  by  arms, 
the  Senator  from  ()hi<»,  the  Chairman  of  the  Conunittce  on  Foreign  Relations, 
perceiving,  as  \u'  supposed,  that  war  was  incvital)le,  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to 
"prepare  the  hearts  of  the  |)eople  "  for  that  event.  All  Congress  presented 
a  belligerent  aspect.  The  Senator  from  Delaware,  (Mr.  J.  M.  Ci-ayton,) 
called  lor  an  ofKcial  statement  of  the  relativt^  strength  of  the  British  and 
American  navi  's,  the  number  of  ships  and  steamers,  with  the  guns  they 
carried,  and  the  number  of  hands  necessary  to  man  them.  Kven  the  Com- 
mittee  on  the  Militia,  which  had  slept  for  twenty  'ears,  waked  up  from  its 
slumbers,  and  was  called  upon  to  report  how  many  able-bodied  men  could 
be  called  into  the  lield. 

During  all  tins  time  the  situation  and  conduct  of  the  conunander-in-chief, 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  presented  a  very  diHerent  aspect.  He 
looked  there  to  judge  whether  there  was  any  danger  of  immediate  war:  to 
listen  whether  there  was  any  note  of  pn^paration  in  that  quarter ;  whether 
the  trumpet  sounded  its  warning  note  to  "prepare,"  liut  nothing  like  war 
or  rumor  of  war  was  to  be  seen  or  heard  ;  "  not  a  drum  was  heard,  not  a 
warlike  note,"  disturbed  the  serenity  of  the  air  in  that  direction  ;  all  was 
profoundly  quiet — perfectly  placid.  He  then  looked  to  the  Departments 
whose  appropriate  functions  were  more  inmiediately  connected  with  the  navy 
and  army  ;  but  there,  too,  all  was  as  peaceful  as  a  Quaker  meeting-house. 
No  preparations  for  war  were  any  where  to  be  seen.  One  of  the  distin- 
guished Secretaries  wa^  busily  engaged  in  settling  questions  of  etiquette  be- 
tween our  officers,  and  ^iie  only  sort  of  war  he  was  engaged  in  seemed  to 
be  a  war  on  the  old  tars  of  our  navy.  The  other  honorable  did,  indeed,  ask 
for  some  increase  of  the  army,  sufKcient  to  guard  the  emigrants  going  to 
Oregon,  and  to  supply  the  place  of  the  garrisons  which  had  been  removed 
from  our  fortifications  on  the  seaboard  to  be  dispatched  into  Texas.  He  then 
looked  toward  the  Treasury  Department — for  there  were  to  be  fbund  the 
"sinews  of  war  " — and  what  did  he  see  there  ?  A  crowd  of  generals  and 
engineers  pressing  round  the  fiscal  officer  of  the  Government  with  estimates 
and  reports  asking  tor  the  money  necessary  to  carry  on  the  first  six  months 
of  the  first  campaign  1  No  such  thing  ;  but  a  host  of  collectors,  and  weigh- 
ers, and  appraisers,  clubbing  their  wits  together  to  complete  a  plan  for  re- 
ducing that  revenue  which  must  supply  the  very  pabulum  by  which  a  war 
could  alone  be  sustained. 

While  the  Senator  iirom  Michigan  was  faithfully  discharging  his  duty  by 
calling  the  country  to  the  state  of  the  national  defences,  and  while  the  Senator 
from  Ohio  was  exerting  his  utmost  energies  to  "  prepare  the  hearts  of  the 
people  for  war,"  the  Executive  Department  of  the  Covernment,  in  all  its 
branches,  instead  of  arming  the  country,  was  busy  in  devising  ways  and 
means  to  destroy  the  sinews  of  irar,  by  reducing  the  rate  of  duties  on  imports. 
He  soon,  therefore,  became  convinced  that  if  wo  were  to  have  a  wa»",  it  was 
to  be  a  sentimental  war — a  war  of  hearts — of  prepared  hearts,  for  there  were 
no  other  weapons  prepared  with  which  to  fight. 

In  this  confused  state  of  things,  the  public,  as  was  very  natural,  turned!  their 
eyes  for  some  more  definite  information  to  the  "Government  organ;"  for  there 
was  a  paper  published  at  the  seat  of  Government  that  passed  in  general  esti- 
mation as  the  organ  of  the  administration  through  which  its  views  and  principles 


w 

V( 

w 

C.( 

li 
th 

IK 

in 
n< 
th 

afl 

on 
or 


d.- 


01)8  which 
oth  of  the 
u>  Senator 

by  arms, 
Relations, 
his  duty  to 

presented 
Clayton,) 
iritish  and 
guns   they 

the  Com- 
ip  from  its 
men  could 

ir- in -chief, 
pect.     He 
te  war :  to 
;  whether 
5  like  war 
eard,  not  a 
1 ;  all  was 
['paitments 
hthe  navy 
ing-housc. 
the  distin- 
iquette  be- 
seemed to 
ideed,  ask 
going  to 
removed 
He  then 
fbund  the 
erals  and 
estimates 
|ix  months 
id  weigh- 
11  for  rc- 
|ch  a  war 

duty  by 

Senator 

ts  of  the 

^n  all  its 

^ays  and 

imports. 

i"",  it  was 

jre  were 

led  their 
r  there 
leral  esti- 
[rinciplcs 


wore  to  be  made  known.  They  turned  toward  the  organ — but  its  note  was 
very  doubtful,  mightily  out  of  tune.  It  was  like  one  of  those  street  organs 
which  were  liable  to  be  played  upon  l)y  every  body,  and  the  sound  difTered  ae- 
cording  as  one  or  another  got  hold  of  the  handle.  One  morning  it  resounded 
like  the  thundering  drum,  and  sjjlit  the  ears  of  the  trembling  hearers  ;  jind 
the  next  it  breathed  the  softest  initsie,  and  uttered  only  the  gentle  and  eooing 
notes  of  the  dove.  The  people  ut  a  distanee  took  up  the  paper  to  get  the  latest 
information  from  Washington,  and  one  day  they  ti)uiid  it  was  "war,"  and  the 
next  it  was  "  peace,"  the  thini  day  "doubtful ;"  till  at  last  they  threw  down 
the  oigan  in  utter  disgust,  and  said,  "Pshaw!  there's  going  to  be  no  tight, 
after  all." 

llnderthis  eondition  of  afliiirs,  when  even  the  ehairman  of  the  C'i»iumitteo 
on  Foreign  Helntioiis  would  give  us  no  iul()ruiation  as  to  the  President's  views 
or  pu.'poses  ;  when  those  who  were  uiniTstoojl  to  be  his  especial  friends  could 
give  no  more  ;  when  tlie  magicians  and  soothsayers  were  all  at  fitult,  the  hon- 
orable Senator  from  North  Carolina,  (.Mr.  Haywood,)  was  called  in  to  inter- 
pret the  King's  dream  and  read  the  uiy.<tic  writing  on  lli''  wall ;  and,  in  per- 
ii)rmingthat  high  prophetic  duty,  he  reudenMl  a  great  service  to  the  country, 
though  at  the  same  time  he  caused  no  small  disfiulmuce  among  his  own  party 
fViends. 

But  the  questions  still  came  back  upon  them,  Wheredoes  the  Executive 
stand  ?  is  negotiation  still  open  ?  is  the  (juestion  in  such  a  posture  that  if  may 
be  settled  on  the  parallel  of  49"^  by  iK'gotiation  and  coni])roinise  ?  or  has  the 
President  fallen  back  to  his  first  love,  the  resolution  of  the  liiiltimore  Conven- 
tion, and  insist  on  the  whole  of  Oregon  up  to  .'i-P  40',  as  part  of  the  territory 
of  the  Republic  ? 

His  honorable  cnlleagne,  (Mr.  Daytox,)  with  a  view  to  obtain  informa- 
tion on  which  he  might  vote  luulerstandiugly  on  the  several  bills  now  be- 
fore the  Senate,  pioposiug  an  increase  in  the  army  and  navy,  put  a  plain 
question  to  the  President,  inquiring  whether  any  circumstances  existed  in 
our  foreign  relations  requiring  an  increase  in  our  military  and  naval  fttrce  ; 
and  if  so,  what  those  circumstances  were  ?  He,  having  presented  this  in- 
quiry, had  hoped  that  the  answer  it  might  elicit  would  show  the  true  posi- 
tion of  the  President.  But  in  this  we  were  disappointed.  The  answer  of 
the  President  had  beeji  received  on  yesterday,  and  the  question  still  vibrates 
between  49  and  54  40  ;  they  must  resort  to  construction  to  get  at  its  real 
meaning.  After  considering  its  language,  Mr.  M.  had  come  to  this  conclu- 
sion :  if  negotiation  was  really  at  an  end,  and  the  President  was  resolved  to 
insist  on  our  title  to  the  whole  of  Oregon  up  to  54'  40',  rejecting  all  com- 
promise, he  wotdd  not  have  sent  such  a  mca.wie.  The  President  advised, 
as  B.  •precautionary  measure,  some  increase  in  our  army  and  navy;  and  the 
reason  he  assigns  'lytr  this  was  the  position  of  our  country  in  regard  b«)th  to 
(treat  Britain  and  to  Mexico.  But  to  what  extent  was  this  increase  to  be 
made  ?  Mr.  M.  understood  the  President  to  say  that  we  should  go  to  such 
an  extent  only  as  that,  while  it  would  be  useftil  in  case  of  war,  the  expendi- 
ture would  not  be  thrown  away  should  peace  continue.  Thus  leaving  the 
question  of  peace  or  war  entirely  doubtful ;  because  tlie  proposed  increase 
would  be  usefid  let  there  be  peace  or  war. 

But  if,  as  was  insisted  by  some  gentlemen,  the  President  thought  that  war 
was  to  grow  out  of  this  measure  of  notice,  and  knowing,  as  he  must,  the  ac- 
tual state  of  the  negotiation,  how  can  they  excuse  the  President  for  giving  a 
reply  so  equivocal — tor  suflering  the  nation  to  be  led  to  the  very  verge  of  war 


6 


with  Kngland  without  apprizing  them  in  time  of  thoir  danger,  and  without 
calling  on  Congress  to  make  adequate  preparation  to  meet  such  a  war. 

Mr.  M.  would  here  make  one  observation  in  passing.  The  President 
said  that  some  inerease  was  necessary  both  in  the  army  and  navy,  and  urges 
on  Congn'ss  immediate  action  in  the  case.  Now  it  appeared  to  him  that  if 
the  President  thought  this,  and  believed  there  was  a  necessity  for  prompt  ac- 
tion, he  ought  to  have  sent  a  message  apprizing  ('ongress  of  that  fact  with- 
out being  asked.  If  there  were,  indeed,  circun)stances  connect«Ml  with  the 
foreign  relati<)ns  of  the  cotmtry  which  required  this  inunediate  increase  of 
our  military  t()rc(',  the  Executive  ought  to  hav«^  communicated  those  circum- 
stances, without  awaiting  to  be  called  upon  either  by  letters  from  commit- 
tees or  by  resolution  of  the  Senate.      IJut  h«^  would  pass  that  by. 

Mr.  M.  said  it  was  his  earnest  desire  to  sec  this  vexed  (|uestion  settled 
honorably  and  peacefully — not  by  threats  of  war,  not  by  arbitrary  insist- 
ments,  but  in  a  maniuM'  l)ecoming  two  great  and  powerful  nations,  desirous 
of  doing  each  other  justice.  Why  may  not  a  dispute  between  nations  be 
settled  in  the  same  manner,  and  with  the  same  spirit,  as  two  honorable  men 
in  private  life  would  settle  a  question  concerning  the  right  of  property  be. 
tween  them — by  reason,  by  argument,  by  compromise,  in  any  way,  rather 
than  by  brute  force  .' 

It  was  said  that  if  we  continued  negotiation  some  advantage  might  be 
taken  of  us  by  (Jreat  Britain.  Mr.  M.  should  treat  all  such  apprehensions 
as  idle  ;  we  degraded  ourselves  by  entertaining  the  sus|<icion.  Great  Britain 
dare  not,  if  she  could,  take  advantage  of  us,  nor  wc  of  h<'r,  on  a  great  na- 
tional question  like  this.     There  was  no  need  of  indulging  any  such  fear. 

Mr.  M.  ccmsidered  it  of  the  highest  importance  to  have  this  matter  speedily 
adjusted.  Every  body  knew  that  disputes  of  this  sort  always  grew  worse 
by  time  ;  difficulties  not  thought  of  before  sprung  up  as  the  con- 
iceeded,  till  the  people  on  both  sides  became  excited,  and  then 
..d  prejudice  would  defeat  any  peaceful  settlement,  however  fair  and 
honorable  it  might  be.  He  was  the  more  anxious  for  this  on  account  of  what 
he  had  heard  here.  Senators  had  declared,  in  their  place,  that  unless  the 
Government  should  come  to  an  arrangement  speedily,  public  opinion  and 
the  popular  will  would  take  possession  of  the  question  and  settle  it  to  suit 
themselves,  right  or  wrong.  But  this  was  a  (Jovernmeiit  of  Constitution 
and  of  Law,  and  he  would  not  consent  to  impute  to  his  countrymen  the  de- 
termination to  take  the  settlement  of  a  question  which  belonged  to  the  au- 
thorties  estal)lished  by  the  Constitution  into  their  own  hands  and  settle  it  in 
their  own  way.  Gentlemen,  indeed,  said  that  in  this  country  public  opin- 
ion overrode  every  thing,  and  would  compel  the  Executive  to  take  such  a 
stand  as  suited  the  popular  notions.  Mr.  M.  was  fully  aware  that  a  process 
had  for  some  time  been  going  on  to  manufacture  that  which  was  called  pub- 
lie  opinion;  the  process  had  been  commenced  at  the  Baltimore  Convention; 
the  manufacture  was  continued  in  the  public  prints — in  speeches  at  cross 
roads,  in  toasts  at  public  dinners ;  and,  still  more  lately,  a  new  method  of 
conducting  the  process  had  been  hit  upon  by  chalking  on  doorways  and 
fences  the  numbers  "  54  40,"  from  one  end  of  Pennsylvania  avenue  to  the 
other.  These  new  muniments  of  our  title  might  perhaps  overcome  the 
weight  of  official  records,  and  our  title  to  "  54  40"  be  made  "clear  and  in- 
disputable" by  party  resolutions,  by  dinner  toasts,  by  wax  stamps,  and  by 
chalked  doors  and  fences.  He  trusted  that  this  mode  in  making  out  title 
might  not  be  considered  as  the  expressionof  the  sober  judgment  of  the  Ame- 
rican people. 


and  V 
trovei 
passi 


ter 

he 

joir 

he 

PrH 


',  and  without 
h  a  war. 
he  PrcHidenl 
ivy,  and  urgen 
to  him  that  if 
or  prompt  ac- 
liat  i'act  with. 
ctfd  with  tho 
VI  incn^aH*^  of 
those  circum. 
from  comiiiit- 

cstion  sotth'd 
bitrary  insist- 
ions,  dt'.sirous 
11  nations  !»• 
onorablo  nuMi 
'  property  he- 
y  way,  rather 

igc  might  be 
ipprehensions 
Great  Britain 
II  a  great  na- 
such  fear, 
latter  speedily 
<  grew  worse 
p  as  the  con- 
ked, and  then 
:ever  fair  and 
count  of  what 
lat  unless  the 
opinion  and 
ttle  it  to  suit 
Constitution 
men  the  de- 
d  to  the  au- 
id  settle  it  in 
public  opin- 
take  such  a 
lat  a  process 
s  called  pul). 
^yonvention ; 
les  at  cross 
kV  method  of 
(orvvays  and 
irenue  to  the 
ercome   the 
;lear  and  in- 
nps,  and  by 
ng  out  title 
ofthe  Ame- 


Hc  had  said  that  he  earnestly  desired  to  see  this  matter  settled  by  ncfro. 
'  tiation,  and  in  a  peaceful  manner ;  to  bring  about  this  great  end,  he  was  wil- 
ling to  do  any  thing  not  inconsistent  with  the  honor  and  the  rights  ofthe  na- 
tion. He  would  not  stand  about  particular  words  in  the  framing  of  a  reso- 
lution,  but  would  assent  to  any  thing  that  might  properly  aid  the  F^xecutive 
in  efTecting  a  settlement  ofthe  existing  difficulty.  He  was  fully  prepared  to 
ilo  all  that  might  be  thought  wise  and  prudent  to  bring  about  that  end. 

He  conf^^«sed  that,  when  this  question  was  first  presented  to  him,  his  im- 
pression was  unfavorable  to  notice  in  any  form,  nor  had  his  opinion  even  yet 
entirely  changed.  He  had  supposed  that  the  question  coidd  not  be  in  a  bet- 
ter posture  tor  compromise  than  as  it  then  stood.  That  being  his  opinion, 
he  had  thought  that  giving  this  notice  and  putting  an  end  to  the  convention  of 
joint  occu[)ation,  woidd  but  disturb  the  ne;^otiation  then  in  progress.  But  it* 
he  could  be  satisfied  that  the  notice  wouUf  not  produce  this  result ;  that  tho 
President  would,  after  notice  given,  (••mtimie  the  negotiation  and  bring  it,  if 
possible,  to  an  honorable  adjustment,  he  would  go  for  the  resolution  with  all 
his  heart.  If  the  President  desired  this  measure  to  enable  him  to  settle  the 
question,  Mr.  M.  wouM  say  to  him,  take  the  notice  and  use  it  fairly  tor  that 
purpose.  He  would  give  it  as  an  instrument  of  defence,  and  not  of  aggres- 
sion. He  would  give  it  to  the  Executive  just  as  he  would  give  to  his  friend 
a  deadly  weapon  to  be  used  by  hint  in  self-defence  or  in  the  protection  of  his 
just  rights,  but  for  no  other  piu'pose.  If.  after  the  exercise  of  this  confidence 
in  his  integrity  and  sincerityof  purpose,  the  President  should,  after  all.  make 
use  of  it  to  plunge  the  nation  int<»  war:  if  he  should  employ  it  otdy  to  disturb 
and  impede  negotiation  andoomproinise,  and  throw  the  country  on  the  hazanis 
ofthe  battle-field,  on  his  own  head  would  rest  all  the  responsibility. 

Having  come  to  this  conclusion,  Mr.  M.  was  willing  to  vote  for  the  notice, 
provided  it  was  accompanied  with  the  declaration  of  the  purpose  for  which 
alone  he  was  willinji  to  give  it. 

It  was  admitted  on  all  sides  that  we  had  important  territorial  rights  on 
the  northwest  coast.  These  rights  must  be  defended,  and  would  be.  'i'here 
was  no  man,  ho  was  sure,  to  be  found  in  that  Senate  who  was  unwilling  to 
defend  our  rights  there,  in  the  manner  in  which  they  ought  to  lie  defended,  to 
the  utmost  extent. 

But  the  qtiestion  was,  what  tliose  rights  were — their  nature  and  extent. 
Aufl  here  was  the  point  where  gentlemen  diflered.  This  was  the  great 
point  in  the  controversy.  They  were  inchoate  rights  not  yet  perfected  by 
being  reduced  to  possession.  The  object  was,  by  negotiation  or  otherwise, 
to  reduce  these  rights,  now  only  inchoate,  to  actual  possession  ;  to  extend  the 
jurisdiction  of  our  laws  over  the  country,  to  make  it  our  own  territory,  and  to 
define  and  estaldish  its  boundaries.  The  question  was  as  to  the  extent  of 
our  rights,  and  as  to  the  mode  in  which  we  should  maintain  them. 

In  ascertaining  the  extent  of  our  rights  in  Oregon,  it  was  not  so  much  a 
question  of  title,  coUipelling  those  who  would  discuss  it  to  go  into  a  detailed 
statement  of  both  the  American  and  the  English  title,  as  put  forth  by  the  two 
nations,  as  it  was  a  question  of  partition  of  a  country  now  held  in  joint  occu- 
pancy. Both  nations  claimed  to  be  in  possession  there.  They  both  claimed  a 
vast  uninhabited  region  of  territory,  not  belonging  exchisively  to  either  nation; 
which  was  under  no  territorial  government;  which  was  uninhabited,  in  some 
degree  undiscovered,  and  still  to  be  settled  by  civilized  nations.  As  to  what 
portion  of  this  country  belonged  to  the  United  States,  he  considered  had 
been  well  settled.     Its  extent  had  been  limited,  and  our  title  to  it  asser- 


8 

led,  by  our  own  Govo«rnmcnt,  in  various  ways,  too  clearly  to  be  mistaken 
And  it  was  this  American  title,  thus  defined  and  limited  by  our  own 
Government,  which  Mr.  M.  meant  to  defend.  He  was  not  to  be  told  that 
he  was  arguing  against  the  American  title,  when  he  was  defending  this  true 
title  to  its  fullest  extent.  It  was  the  man  who  went  beyond  this,  and  set  up 
a  title  which  was  not  in  reality  ours,  who  endangered  the  true  title  of  his 
cojntry. 

There  arc  two  kinds  of  title  set  up  to  this  country.  First,  there  was  the 
paper  title.  Koth  nations  claimed  a  title  of  this  kind  in  Oregon.  Our  pa- 
per title  was  under  Spain,  by  the  Florida  treaty  in  HlO.  By  this  treaty 
Spain  released  to  us  all  her  claims  and  pretensions  to  the  northwest  roast. 
It  was  ill  the  nature  of  a  quit*claim.  The  paj)er  tiMe  of  England  was  also 
from  Spain,  by  the  convention  of  Nootka  8oun<l.  It  was  in  form  a  conees- 
sion,  and  operated  as  an  estoppel  to  all  future  claim  by  Spain  to  an  exclusive 
right  to  the  northwest  coast.  Neither  of  these  paper  titles  was  worth  a  rush, 
unless  it  can  be  shown  that  Spain,  or  those  claiming  under  her,  had  perfecte(i 
her  title  of  discovery  by  actual  possession.  Vattelsays:  "The  law  of  na- 
tions only  acknowledges  the  property  and  sovereignty  of  a  nation  over  unin- 
habited coiuitries  of  which  they  .-liull  rrallij  and  in  fact  take  possession,  in 
which  they  shall  form  settlements,  or  oi"  which  they  sluill  make  actual  use." 
It  was  true  that  Spain  had  had  rights  once  on  the  n«>rthwest  coast.  The 
history  of  those  rights  had  been  ably  detailed  by  the  Senator  from  New  York. 
Hers  was  a  title  by  discovery.  It  commenced  about  the  year  1.34.3.  For 
upwards  of  two  centuries  arter  that  time,  the  navigators  of  Spain,  at  remote 
periods,  sailed  up  and  down  the  northwest  coast,  erecting  crosses,  making 
formal  declarations  of  dominion.,  and  drawing  charts  of  bays  and  sounds,  real 
and  imaginary.  But  did  she  ever  really  and  in  fact  take  possession  of  the 
coimtry,  so  as  to  give  her  an  exclusive  dominion  there?  The  United  State.- 
coidd  not  that  say  she  had  done  so  ,  (ireat  Britain  could  not  admit  that  she  had 
done  so  ;  for  both  nations,  long  alh-r  Spain  had  pertbrmed  all  these  imper- 
fect acts  of  dominion,  considered  the  northwest  coast  to  be  an  open  and  imap- 
propriated  country,  in  which  they  might  lawfully  make  discoveries  and  forns 
settlements,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  national  dominion,  in  opposition 
to  the  exclusive  claim  of  Spain.  These  discoveries  were  made  and  settle- 
ments  formed  by  the  United  States,  and  by  virtue  of  them  we  claim  title  now. 

The  Senator  from  New  York,  (.\Ir.  Dix,)  in  tracing  the  history  of  the 
Spanish  title,  very  truly  said  that  the  discoveries  of  Spain  embraced  the  entire 
coast ;  but  when  he  came  to  speak  of  actual  occupation,  he  told  the  Senate 
that  her  title  was  confined  and  perlected  by  occupation  no  higher  north  than 
49°  30'.  Therefore,  without  going  over  what  had  been  better  said  belt)re. 
Mr.  M.  came  to  this  conclusion  ;  that,  whatever  Spanish  navigators  might 
have  discovered,  Spain  never  had  an  exclusive  title  to  the  northwest  coast, 
and  when  she  ceded  to  us  all  her  rights  there,  these  rights  could  not  be  said 
to  extend  beyond  49°  30'. 

Then  it  appeared  that  under  the  Spanish  grant  we  could  claim  no  exclu- 
sive right  to  the  northwest  coast ;  it  gave  us  only  the  inchoate  right  from 
discovery,  to  be  perfected  by  actual  .settlement,  possession,  and  appropriation. 

Suppose  that  in  1819  Spain,  instead  of  relinquishing  her  rights  on  the 
northwest  coast  to  the  United  States,  had  relinquished  them  to  Great  Britain, 
should  we  have  submitted  to  a  claim  set  up  by  her  to  the  whole  of  Oregon 
on  that  basis  ?  No  ;  we  should  have  denied  its  validity,  and  insisted  on  oui 
own  better  claim  by  discovery  and  occupation;  wc  should  have  stood  firml]i 


9 


o  be  mistaken, 
d  hy  our  own 
to  he  told  that 
nding  this  true 
his,  and  not  up 
rue  title  of  his- 

there  was  the 
^oii.  Our  pa- 
By  this  treaty 
(rthwesl  roaht. 
viand  wu.s  also 
!tnn  a  coneex- 

0  an  exclusive 
i  worth  a  rush, 
,  had  perfected 
'he  law  of  na- 
ion  over  unin- 
possession,  in 
V  actual  use." 
t  coast.  The 
in  New  York. 
ir  1543.  For 
ain,  at  remote 
osses,  inakiu" 
id  sounds,  real 
s(fgsion  of  the 
United  States 
it  that  she  had 

1  these  intper- 
|>en  and  unap- 
'ries  and  fonis 
,  in  opposition 
de  and  settle - 
laim  title  now. 
history  of  the 
ccd  the  entire 
>ld  the  Senate 
er  north  than 
T  said  before, 
igators  might 
rthwest  coast. 
Id  not  be  said 

aim  no  exclu- 
le  right  from 
appropriation, 
rights  on  the 
CJreat  Britain, 
jle  of  Oregon 
nsisted  on  our 
e  stood  firml]! 


by  this  ground  of  title,  renting  on  the  law  of  nations — laws  recognized  by 
hngland,  and  by  the  whole  civilized  world. 

But  we  had  anoth  <r  title  to  Oregon — a  titler  ohier  and  far  better  than  that 
derived  from  the  n  lease  of  {^|)ain.  It  wns  a  title  acquired  by  ourselves,  by 
the  acts  of  otir  own  ritizciiH,  and  sanctioned  l>y  our  (»overnment — a.  title  by 
discovery,  followed  up  by  the  explorullon  of  the  eoiuitry,  and  perfected  by 
actual  settlement.  This  was  the  true  American  title  ;\i\»m  tills  title  our 
(jovernment  can  stand  rtriuly  and  h...ioral»ly. 

To  sustain  this  title  to  its  just  liuiits,  and  no  further,  is  the  high  duty  to  Ix^ 
performed  by  this  Admiuistnitidu.  Let  them  not  be  led  away  by  tiilse  clamor 
tor  lands  not  oiu-  own.  Let  theui  not  venture  to  upro(»t  our  national  llag 
from  where  it  was  planted  by  .leflersnii  arid  where  it  has  sttMxl  /or  the  last 
thirty  years,  on  4!)'^,  and  carry  it  into  the  regions  of  eternal  snows,  upon 
some  new  and  doubtful  claim  ot'  title. 

The  only  question  was,  what  portion  of  ctjuntry  «lid  this  true  American 
title  cover.'  What  was  the  locus  in  quo?  lie  said  that  it  <'overe<l  the 
country  west  of  the  Rocky  Moiuitaius,  exteu<ling  to  the  Pacitic  ocean,  and 
lying  between  the  parallels  of  42^  and  4U-'.  T' ;  t  was  the  extent  of  our 
rights.  That  always  had  been  our  <'laiiu.  In  otii  various  negotiation.-. 
State  papers,  reports,  and  maps,  it  had  been  described  generally  aiul  par- 
ticularly by  the  name  of  the  ''northwest  coast,"  "  the  valley  of  the  Coliim- 
bia,"  and  lately  by  that  of  "Oregon."  .No  lurtter  i)y  what  name  it  was 
designated,  that  was  the  territory  we  <'laiuied,  and  to  which  we  believed  wc 
had  a  gt>od  and  valid  title.  We  had  always  luider.stocjd  Oregon  to  be  limited 
iM)rth  and  south  by  the  pa.'allels  of  42    and  49^. 

Mr.  M.  said  he  had  a  memorandiuu  of  s(»nie  authorities  (Ui  this  subject. 

In  1803,  when  the  attention  of  this  CJovernment  was  lirst  called  to  our 
rights  in  Oregon,  Mr.  Jeflerson  authorized  an  exploration  of  the  eoiurtry  by 
Lewis  and  Clarke.  But  what  was  the  object  of  this  expedition,  the  whole, 
iu)rthwest  coast .'  Not  at  all.  They  were  to  explore  the  valley  of  the  Co. 
lumbia  river,  and  thus  complete,  by  internal  exploi-ation,  the  di.scovery  by 
Gray  of  the  mouth  of  that  river.  We  then  heard  of'  no  j)retensions  made 
by  this  Government  to  the  whole  northwest  coast.  It  was  not  even  thought 
of. 

In  1818,  when  Mr.  Monroe  tinned  his  attention  to  this  matter,  we  found 
that  although  in  our  diplomacy  our  negotiators,  acting  in  the  characters  ot 
advocates,  filed  our  declai'ation  large  enough  to  cover  the  territory  up  to 
54"  40 ,  yet  when  the  Governureut  came  to  act  we  ti)tnid  the  Kxecutive. 
firmly  standing  upon  the  pai'allel  of  40 ';  and  the  same  position  was  subse- 
quently  taken  in  the  Administiation  of  Mr-.  Adams.  During  the  Admini.*- 
tration  of  General  Jackson  there  was  a  special  agent,  Mr.  Slacum,  employed 
to  visit  Oregon  lor  information  relative  to  our  rights  beyond  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  The  instructions  given  to  Mi-.  Slacunr  were  drawn  up  by  Mr-. 
Forsyth.  These  instructions  directed  the  agent  to  ol>tain  some  specific  and 
authentic  information  in  regard  to  \\w  inhabilaiits  of  the  country  in  the. 
neighborhood  of  the  Oregon  or  Columljia  river.  General  Jackson,  then, 
had  no  idea  of  54"^  40'. 

In  1838  t  report  was  made  to  the  Senate  by  the  late  lamented  Dr.  Linn, 
a  gentleman  whom  all  who  knew  him  could  not  but  respect — a  man  of  honor 
and  a  man  of  sense,  who  imderstood  the  rights  of  the  country  on  this  ques. 
tion  as  well  as  any  person  living — a  Senator  who  had  devoted  his  attention 
for  years  to  this  whole  subject.     On  looking  at  Dr.  Linn'.'  report  we  should 


I 


10 


find  that  he  described  Oregon  by  degrees  of  latitude,  stated  the  nature  and 
extent  of  our  right  to  it,  and  then  the  grounds  on  which  those  rights  were 
founded.     On  page  3  of  that  report  he  said : 

"  The  validity  of  the  title  of  the  United  States  to  the  territory  on  the  north- 
west coast,  between  the  latitude  of  42°  to  49°,  is  not  questioned  by  any  power 
except  Great  Britain" 

Again,  on  page  6,  he  said  : 

"  The  extent  of  the  territory  on  the  northwest  coast,  which  is  properly  em- 
braced within  our  limits,  is  to  be  ascertained  by  the  application  of  the  two  recog. 
nized  principles  to  the  established  facts  of  ihe  case.  1st.  That  the  discovery  and 
occupation  of  the  mouth  of  the  river  gives  title  to  the  region  watered  by  it  and 
its  tributaries,  as  in  the  cas.  jf  the  Hudson,  James,  Mississippi  rivers,  &c.  2d. 
That  the  discovery  and  settitment  of  a  new  country  by  a  civilized  Power  gives 
title  half  way  to  the  settlement  of  the  nearest  civilized  Power.  The  boundary 
between  them  is  a  medium  line.  Either  of  the  principles  will  carry  our  line  as 
far  as  49°." 

In  this  report,  Dr.  Linn  also  examines  the  Spanish  title  by  discovery,  and 
admits  that  that  title  was  defective,  because  unaccompanied  with  any  subse- 
quent and  efficient  act  of  sovereignty  or  settlement. 

This  report  was  accompanied  by  a  map,  and  on  that  map  the  line  of  49^^ 
was  extended  to  the  Pacific,  the  country  south  of  the  line  being  marked  as 
the  ^^  territory  of  Oregon,^^  and  all  that  above  the  line  as  the  "  British  ter- 
ritory.''^ There  was  a  note  appended  to  the  map  stating  that  the  line  was 
so  marked  because  our  Government  had  offered  to  establish  the  latitude  of 
49'^  as  the  boundary  between  us  and  Great  Britain.  But  this  showed  the 
opinion  of  Dr.  Linn  to  be  that  the  territory  of  Oregon  was  the  country  lying 
between  42 -^  and  49^. 

Mr.  Breese.  Is  there  not  a  note  accomj)anying  that  map  showing  why 
the  line  was  so  marked  ? 

Mr.  Miller  said  he  had  just  stated  that  fact.  Dr.  Linn  well  understood 
the  whole  Oregon  question.  But  this  was  not  his  opinion  alono.  His 
honorable  colleague  (Mr.  Brntox)  was  of  the  same  opinion ;  for  in  1838 
he  introduced  a  resolution  into  the  Senate  declaring  it  to  be  expedient  for 
the  United  States  to  treat  with  (xreat  Britain  on  the  basis  of  separating  the 
people  in  Oregon,  and  establishing  49°  as  the  permanent  boundary  between 
them,  in  the  shortest  practicable  time.  And  again,  in  the  debate  on  the 
Ashburton  treaty,  that  Senator  avowed  the  same  opinion,  and  still  advocated 
the  same  basis  of  49°. 

It  is  utterly  vain  for  Senators  to  contend  against  the  accumulated  evidence 
on  this  point.  Our  Government,  from  Mr.  Jefferson's  to  Mr.  Polk's  adminis- 
tration, had  been  willing,  nay  anxious,  to  settle  upon  the  basis  of  49®. 

When  Mr.  Polk  came  into  office  on  the  4th  of  March,  1845,  he  found  nego- 
tiation between  the  two  Governments  pending  on  the  subject  of  the  Oregon 
territory.     He  states  in  his  message  : 

"  My  attention  was  early  directed  to  the  negotiation,  which,  on  the  fourth  of 
March  last,  I  found  pending  at  Washington  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  un  the  subject  of  the  Oregon  territory.  Three  several  attempts  had  been 
previously  made  to  settle  the  questions  in  dispute  between  the  two  countries,  by 
negotiation,  upon  the  principle  of  compromise  ;  but  each  had  proved  unsuccess- 
ful." 

Again  he  says : 

"When  I  came  into  office,  I  found  this  to  be  the  stale  of  the  negotiation. 
Though  entertaining  the  settled  conviction,  that  the  British  pretensions  of  title 


iture  and 
[hts  were 

the  north' 
ny  power 


lerly  em- 
wo  recog. 
every  and 
by  it  and 
&c.  2d. 
wer  gives 
boundary 
ur  line  as 


I'ery,  and 
ly  subse- 

e  of  49=* 
arked  as 
itish  ter- 
line  was 
titude  of 
'Wed  the 
try  lying 

ing  why 

derstood 
0.  His 
in  1838 
\ient  for 
iting  the 
between 
'■  on  the 
Ivocated 

vidence 
idminis. 

d  nego- 
Oregon 

'ourih  of 
id  Great 
ad  been 
tries,  by 
success- 


)tiation. 
of  title 


11 

could  not  be  maintained  to  any  portion  of  the  Oregon  territory  upon  any  principle 
of  public  law  recognised  by  nations,  yet,  in  deference  to  what  had  been  done  by 
my  predecessors,  and  especially  in  consideration  that  propositions  of  compromise 
had  been  thrice  made,  by  two  preceding  administrations,  to  adjust  the  question 
on  the  parallel  of  forty-nine  degrees,  and  in  two  of  them  yielding  to  Great  Britain 
the  free  navigation  of  the  Columbia,  and  that  the  pending  negotiation  had  been 
commenced  on  the  basis  of  compromise,  I  deemed  it  to  be  my  duty  not  abruptly  to 
break  it  off." 

Mr.  Polk  adopted  this  pending  negotiation,  made  it  his  own,  and  con- 
tinued it  till  he  finally  offered  the  line  of  49-'  to  Mr.  Pakenham  as  a  settlement 
of  the  controversy.  The  British  envoy  rejected  the  offer,  and  then  the  Presi- 
dent threw  himself  back  on  our  claim  to  the  whole  territory. 

In  Mr.  Polk's  inaugural  address  he  had  stated  that  our  claim  was  clear  and 
unquestionable  up  to  r)4'-'  40'.  Bui:  when  he  entered  on  the  actual  duties  and 
responsibilities  of  hi^  office,  he  found  a  negotiaaou  going  on  liased  on  the 
principles  of  compromise,  and  he  continuod  it  on  the  same  principles. 

For  adopting  this  negotiation,  and  for  continuing  it  on  the  principle  of 
compromise,  the  President  has  deemed  it  necessary  to  make  an  apology  to 
the  American  people.  His  Secretary,  speaking  for  him,  said  that,  though 
the  President  differed  in  his  individual  opinion,  yet,  when  he  considered  the 
question,  he  "  foiuid  himself  embarrassed,  if  not  committed,  by  the  acts  of  his 
predecessors."  Embarrassed  by  the  acts  of  Jefl'erson,  Monroe,  Adams,  Gen. 
Jackson,  Van  Buren,  and  Clay  !  The  word  was  rather  too  weak  a  one.  Mr. 
M.  once  heard  a  judge  say,  upon  the  bench,  that  he  would  have  decided  the 
cause  before  him  in  a  particular  manner,  "  if  h-:  had  not  been  embarrassed  by 
the  Constitution."     [A  laugh.] 

Mr.  M.  presumed  Mr.  Polk's  embarrassment  was  very  much  of  the  same 
kind  with  that  felt  by  an  heir  disposed  to  set  up  and  pursue  a  claim  beyond 
the  limits  of  his  legal  right,  when  he  found  himself  estopped  by  the  recorded 
admissions  of  his  ancestor.  "  Committed"  very  much  as  a  judge  found  him- 
self committed  when  called  to  decide  a  question  on  finding  that  it  had  been  al- 
ready decided  to  his  hands  by  judicial  decisions  of  his  predecessors.  Very 
strange  it  certainly  was  that  the  Secretary  of  State  should  have  felt  it  to  be  ne- 
cessary to  apologize  for  the  President,  as  if  he  was  doing  something  that  was 
discreditable  to  liiiu.  But,  if  the  President  was  embarrassed  by  the  acts  of 
his  predecessors,  was  not  the  nation  equally  enil)arrassed  now  ?  Must  we 
not  be  sensible  we  were  treading  on  dangerous  ground,  when  departing  from 
the  position  taken  by  all  who  had  gone  Tjefove  us  ?  Were  we  not  assinning 
too  nuich  when  we  wtMit  so  far  beyond  oiu*  be^^t  and  greatest  and  wisest  men, 
and  for  refusiufi  to  jjo  this  lenjifh  Senators  were  to  be  charmnl  with  a  want  of 
"nerve?"  Standing  by  the  side  of  the  gallant  Linn,  and  sanctioned  by  the 
written  authority  of  the  no  less  gallant  and  experienced  Senator  from  Mis- 
souri, (Mr.  Bknion,)  in  saying  that  our  just  title  was  limited  by  the  parall-l  of 
of  40,  were  i,entlenien  to  be  told  that  they  betrayed  a  "  want  of  nerve  ?" — that 
they  were  willing  to  "dismember  the  I'nion,"  and  to  surrender  the  soil  of  the 
Republic  .' 

The  Senator  from  Indiana,  (Mr.  Hanmhj.w,)  had  told  the  Senate  that 
if  we  surrendered  any  portion  of  Oregon  short  of  54*^  40',  we  might 
surrender  a  Western  pioneer  with  his  wife  and  children,  all  of  whom  were 
to  be  turned  over  to  the  grinding  tyranny  of  C  real  Britain;  and  then  the 
Senator  had  assailed  their  tenderest  feelings  by  a  thrilling  description  of  the 
surprise  and  dismay  of  the  poor  man  when  he  found  himself  outlawed  from  his 
natne  land.     In  reply,  he  would  say  to  the  honorable  Senator,  that  his  friend. 


12 


the  President,  had  well  nigh  perpetrated  this  very  deed,  by  offering  49  as  our 
boundary,  and  nothing  saved  the  poor  pioneer  and  his  little  child  from  being 
I.  •'nsferred  to  Queen  Victoria's  dominions  but  the  obstinacy  of  the  British 
Government.     [A  laugh.] 

But  Mr.  M .  did  not  so  imderstand  that  there  were  any  American  settlements 
above  49.  What,  then,  (ho  asked,)  is  there  to  prevent  our  Government  from 
standing  where  it  has  stood  tor  the  last  thirty  years,  willing  to  treat  upon  the 
basis  of  49  ?  Nothing,  that  he  knew  of;  nothing  but  a  certain  resolution 
adopted  by  a  political  convention  at  Baltimore.  Mr.  M.  said  he  should  not 
have  intruded  a  subject  like  this  upon  the  Senate,  had  it  not  been  mentioned 
before.  The  Baltimore  convention  had  been  made  as  legitimate  a  part  of 
this  debate  as  the  convention  of  Nootka  Sound.  It  was  contended  here  that 
the  President  was  committed  by  this  resolution  i^j  54°  40'.  If  this  resolution 
was  to  produce  such  a  result,  it  would  be  well  to  examine  its  authority  r^nd 
history.  What  was  its  history  ?  He  had  looked  into  the  published  proceed- 
ings of  that  convention.  He  there  tbund  that  this  resolution  was  introduced 
in  that  body  at  the  last  and  fourth  day  of  its  meetings,  at  half  j)ast  seven  o'clock 
in  the  morning — before  breakfast — as  the  Convention  was  dissolving,  and 
when  four-fifths,  as  he  was  informed,  of  those  who  had  composed  it  had  left, 
and  set  out  on  their  way  home.  This  before-breakfast  resolution  was  intro- 
duced at  a  moment  like  that,  and  passed,  as  Mr.  M.  supposed,  unanimously  by 
those  who  were  present.  The  gentleman  who  draughted  it  was  said  to  have 
been  Mr.  Benjamin  F.  Butler.  He  was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Reso- 
lutions, and  a  firm  friend  of  Martin  Van  Buren,  whose  nomination  had  been  de- 
feated by  the  adoption  of  the  two-third  rule  ;  and  yet  that  samci  gentleman,  the 
father  of  the  resolution,  was  found  standing  alongside  of  the  leading  Demo- 
crats of  the  State  of  New  York  in  favor  of  settling  this  controversy  on  the 
parallel  of  49'^.  We  found,  too,  that  the  present  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
had  been  one  of  the  committee  who  re])orted  this  resolution.  Yet  it  was  well 
understood  that  he,  too,  was  in  favor  of  a  compromise  on  49*^.  The  Senator 
from  Georgia,  (Mr.  Colquitt,)  had  also  been  a  member  of  the  same  commit- 
tee, and  he  supposed  he  need  not  say  that  that  gentleman  took  the  same 
ground.  Besides,  Mr.  M.  could  show  from  the  niles  adopted  by  the  Conven- 
tion that  it  required  the  assent  of  two-thirds  of  the  body  to  agree  to  any  tbing 
proposed.  But  more  than  two-thirds  of  those  who  had  constituted  the  Con- 
vention, and  who  had  nominated  Mr.  Polk  for  the  Presidency,  were  gone  be- 
fore these  resolutions  were  smuggled  in  without  their  assent  or  knowledge. 
This  resolution,  then,  by  the  law  of  the  convention  in  which  it  was  adopted, 
is  void  and  not  binding  upon  any  one.  Yet,  a  resolution  like  this,  adopted  un- 
der sich  circumstances,  was  brought  up  here  to  induce  Senators  and  to  compel 
the  Executive  to  de|)art  from  what  had  been  the  settled  policy  of  this  country 
for  thiily  ye-^rs.  This  Baltimore  resolution  was  to  take  the  place  of  the 
opinions  of  all  our  negotiators  and  Secretaries,  and  of  the  recorded  in- 
vestigations and  deliberate  opinions  of  distinguished  Senators,  who  had 
been  the  steadfast  friends  and  advocates  of  Oregon  from  the  beginning.  All 
these  were  to  be  set  aside,  and  this  Baltimore  Convention  was  to  be  set  up 
as  the  mouthpiece  of  the  American  nation. 

The  weight  of  such  an  authority  was  surpassed  only  by  that  of  a  certain 
toast,  given  to  the  world  a  few  days  since  at  a  public  dinner  eaten  in  Balti- 
more in  honor  of  St.  Patrick.  He  begged  pardon  of  the  Senate  for  introdu- 
cing a  toast  in  so  grave  a  body,  but  he  thought  that  ailer  the  introduction  of 


I 


■S>- 


g  49  as  our 
from  being 
the  British 

settlements 
nnient  from 
it  upon  the 
resolution 
should  not 
mentioned 
o  a  part  of 
d  here  that 
5  resolution 
thority  and 
d  procccd- 
introduced 
en  o'clock 
olving^,  and 
it  had  lefl, 
was  Intro- 
imously  by 
aid  to  have 
on  Reso- 
ld been  de- 
leman,  the 
ng  Demo- 
rsy  on  the 
p  Treasury 
it  was  well 
le  Senator 
le  commit- 
the  same 
le  Conven- 
any  thing 
1  the  Con- 
:•  gone  be- 
nowledge. 
s  adopted, 
rJopted  un- 
to compel 
is  country 
ice  of  the 
ordcd   in- 
who  had 
ing.     All 
be  set  u|> 

a  certain 

in  Balti. 

r  introdu> 

luction  of 


13 

••    • 

the  hefore-hreakfast  resolution  an  after-dinner  toast  might  be  excused.     This 
is  the  sentiment : 

"By  Bill  O'Regan.  The  0'i?e»an  Familjr :  We  will  not  permit  any  of  our 
family  ever  to  come  under  the  intolerable  British  tyranny  or  misrule. 

Now,  Mr.  M.  thought  that  this  furnished  us  with  a  better  title  to  fight  for 
the  whole  of  Oregon  upon  than  that  derived  from  Spain  ;  <br  he  believed  that 
when  it  came  to  hard  fighting  one  stout  Irishman  would  stand  us  in  stead 
more  than  three  Spaniards.  [A  laugh.]  It  also  settles  the  derivation  of  the 
word  Oregon,  makes  it  Irish  instead  of  Spanish. 

Having  thus  relieved  the  question  from  the  alleged  authority  of  a  mere 
party  resolution,  and  exposed  the  fallacy  of  the  very  extraordinary  notion  that 
on  such  authority  two  nations  were  to  be  prevented  from  an  amicable  com- 
promise of  their  difllici'lties  on  a  mere  question  of  boundary,  he  would  inquire 
whether  the  negotiation  for  this  end  was  not  still  open  ?  Some  Senators 
doubted  it ;  others  said  that  the  negotiation  was  still  going  on ;  and  Mr.  M. 
believed,  tor  one,  that  such  was  the  case.  If  it  was,  why  is  not  the  public 
mind  put  to  rest  upon  that  point  by  some  certain  reliable  information  ?  Why 
not  let  the  negotiation  continue  ?  Why  must  it  stop  because  one  proposition 
had  been  rejected  I  Let  it  continue  ;  let  all  peaceable  means  of  settling  our 
diflliculties  i)e  exhausted,  and  let  war  be  our  last  resort,  because  it  was  the 
worst.  We  could  not  hope  to  set  ourselves  up  against  the  whole  civilized 
and  Christian  world,  and  insist  on  settling  principles  of  international  law  for 
ourselves,  after  having  negotiated  on  this  subject  under  the  principles  of  in- 
ternational  law  recognized  by  all  Christendom  for  thirty  years.  Neither  can 
England  reject  negotiation,  and  insist  on  settling  the  dispute  in  her  own  way. 
No  nation  could  do  this,  and  continue  to  live,  among  other  Christian  nations. 
If  we  took  that  ground,  we  must  make  up  our  minds  to  abandon  the  society 
of  nations,  and  stand  by  ourselves,  the  object  of  general  reprobation  and 
hatred. 

But  the  word  "  compromise  "  was  objected  to.  The  Senator  from  Arkan- 
sas (Mr.  Sevier)  had  repeatedly  expressed  his  desire  to  see  this  controversy 
settled,  and  had  avowed  himself  the  friend  of  peace.  He  objects  to  the  word 
"  compromise."  But  he  should  remember,  if  there  was  anything  offensive 
in  the  word,  that  it  was  notour  word ;  it  was  the  word  of  the  President  him- 
self. It  was  the  word  employed  by  him  in  his  message  ;  and  the  word  con- 
stantly employed  throughout  all  our  past  negotiations.  Was  there  any  dishon- 
or attached  to  the  term  ?  If  so,  then  the  nation  had  been  dishonored  for  thirty 
years.  It  was  the  very  principle  on  which  all  our  negotiations  had  been 
conducted.     Why  discard  it  now  ? 

It  was  said  that  the  national  honor  was  concerned  in  the  settlement  of  this 
question.  This  point  of  honor  is  somewhat  like  the  question  itself:  it  vi- 
brates between  49*^  and  54°  40'.  It  was  the  very  zenith  of  national  glory  to 
stand  on  54°  40',  while  it  was  the  blackest  disgrace  to  settle  down  to  49**. 
They  measure  honor  by  degrees  of  latitude.  But  national  honor  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  matter.  This  was  a  question  to  be  submitted  to  reason  and 
argument,  and  decided  by  principles  of  national  law.  For  one,  he  believed 
that  the  national  honor  would  best  be  maintained  on  this  Oregon  question  by 
pursuing  a  peaceflil  policy.  That  had  always  been  our  policy.  All  the  ter- 
ritory we  ever  had  acquired  from  the  day  of  our  national  independence  to  this 
hour  had  been  acquired  by  negotiation.  This  magnificent  domain  of  ours, 
the  widest,  the  best,  the  freest  of  all  lands,  had  all  been  obtained  by  negotia- 
don.     Negotiation  had  been  our  policy  from  the  beginning.     And  were  wo 


— ar-os*  ^-rvtnfv.  w 


14 


1 


going  to  change  it  now?    Were  we  now  to  break  off  all  negotiation  because 
one  proposal  had  failed  ? 

Mr.  M.  said  that,  when  he  cast  his  eyes  over  our  wide-spread  Republic, 
when  he  contemplated  the  picture  it  presented,  extending  as  it  did  from  the 
Lakes  to  the  Gulf,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  beheld 
it  filled  and  almost  covered  over  with  towns,  and  villages,  and  hamlets,  and 
swarming  with  a  population  all  happy  and  all  at  work,  extending  themselves 
yearly  and  hourly  over  the  fertile  West,  converting  the  forests  into  tarms, 
and  opening  the  wilderness  to  the  light  of  the  sun,  and  reflected  that  all  this- 
was  the  fruit  of  peace,  he,  for  one,  must  oppose  the  first  step  towards  a 
change  in  our  policy  in  the  acquisition  of  territory.  What  had  war  done  for 
us  in  extending  this  Republic  ?  Nothing.  He  spoke  not  of  the  war  of  the 
Revolution,  for  that  was  not  a  war  for  territory,  but  for  rights.  War  had 
done  nothing  for  us.  We  had  grown  by  the  silent  but  masterly  inactivity  of 
peace.  And  yet,  at  the  very  first  difficulty,  on  the  first  rejection  of  an  offer 
in  negotiation,  gentlemen  were  for  discarding  all  negotiation  and  resort- 
ing  to  war  to  extend  our  territorial  rights. 

We  were  about  to  extend  our  national  jurisdiction  over  Oregon — a  vast 
region  of  almost  unbroken  wilderness  and  as  yet  appropriated  by  m  Chris- 
tian or  civilized  Government  or  people,  and  not  now  a  Territory  of  the 
United  States.  And  it  was  true,  as  had  been  observed  by  the  Senator  from 
Missouri,  (Mr.  Atcuison,)  the  people  of  Oregon,  the  American  settlers,  if 
longer  neglected  by  this  Government,  had  a  natural  right  to  establish  a  Gov- 
ernment  for  themselves.  They  occupied  a  new  and  unappropriated  country,  as 
yet  subject  to  national  jurisdiction,  and,  by  the  laws  of  nations,  they  might  or- 
ganize a  Government  for  themselves.  Mr.  M.  did  not  know  that,  if  they 
should  do  so,  they  would  be  guilty  of  treason  against  the  United  States.  Our 
national  flag  had  never  yet  been  sent  into  that  region ;  our  Government  had 
never  been  established  there.  The  greater  part  of  the  country  was  at  this 
day  just  as  the  hand  of  nature  left  it ;  the  silence  of  its  dark  and  unexplored 
valleys  unbroken  by  the  sounds  of  civilization.  The  country  was,  in  fact  to  a 
great  extent,  yet  undiscovered,  even  the  way  there  was  obstructed  by  insurmoun- 
table hazards  and  difficulties  till|one  of  the  young  officers  of  our  army  had  ex- 
plored and  discovered  a  pass  through  the  rocky  barrier.  That  young  man  was  at 
this  hour  in  the  prosecution  of  a  new  tour  of  investigation,  encamped  on 
some  bleak  hill,  surveying  the  wide  unbroken  wilderness,  and  preparing  new 
treasures  of  geographical  knowledge  for  science  and  for  his  country.  And 
Mr.  M.  would  take  this  occasion  to  say  that  that  young  and  enterprising  officer 
had  done  more  towards  the  acquisition  of  Oregon,  and  its  reduction  under  a 
civilized  Government,  than  had  ever  before  been  accomplished  by  its  most 
zealous  friends.  That  extensive  region,  so  long  almost  unknown,  was  now 
brought  before  the  view  of  the  civilized  world,  its  natural  advantages,  com- 
mercial and  agricultural.  Its  rivers,  mountains,  and  valleys,  had  been  pre- 
sented to  the  gaze  of  our  adventurous  and  enterprising  people.  The  new  and 
important  commercial  interests,  connected  with  our  trade  in  China,  and  with  the 
islands  of  the  Western  Ocean,  give  importance  to  the  occupation  of  Oregon, 
and  will  induce  rapid  emigration  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific. 

Thus  this  wilderness,  this  last  reserve  of  nature  upon  this  continent,  is 
soon  destined  to  be  converted  into  the  abode  of  civilized  man  and  made  sub- 
ject to  organized,  civil,  and  religious  government.  This  Government  had 
that  great  work  yet  to  perform;  the  work  of  settling  Oregon,  bringing  it  uii- 
der  the  control  and  protection  of  civilized  Government,  and  spreading  over 


t 


15 


over 


it  the  shield  of  law  and  the  arm  of  the  national  power.  It  was  a  great 
work,  but  not  the  work  of  war.  This  was  pre-eminently  a  labor  of  peace.. 
He  trusted  that  the  first  time  our  flag  was  seen  in  that  new  country,  it  would 
not  be  met  a^  a  warlike  bauner,  sent  there  to  authorize  the  shedding  of 
blood.  He  hoped  that  the  first  cultivation  of  this  new  soil  would  not  be  by 
the  blood  of  men.  Would  it  not  be  far  more  worthy  of  the  American  peo- 
ple to  subdue  it  by  the  arts  of  peace,  and  let  the  hand  of  industry  cause  it 
to  blossom  as  the  rose  ?  Would  it  not  be  a  noble  enterprise  to  extend  the 
mild  influence  of  civilization  to  the  far  shores  of  the  Pacific,  to  plant  the 
laws  of  a  free  people  on  the  banks  of  the  Columbia,  and  bring  the  bles- 
sings of  order  and  of  regulated  liberty  where  until  now  the  savage  had 
roamed  in  all  the  license  of  barbarism  .' 

But  was  this  to  be  accomplished  by  war  ?  No  ;  it  was  to  be  done,  and 
would  be  done,  by  the  gentle  sceptre  of  peace.  It  would  only  be  done  by 
sending  our  hardv  settlers  there,  with  no  other  arms  than  the  woodman's  axe, 
and  no  force  but  tne  presence  of  his  wife  and  children.  These  were  the 
banded  forces  that  had  subdued  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  who  were 
to  conevrt  the  wilderness  of  Oregor  into  the  abode  of  civilized  man. 

Yet  gentlemen,  before  we  have  even  found  our  way  as  high  as  49°,  are 
for  marching  with  banners  displayed  and  taking  possesion  of  the  country  up 
to  54°  40',  and  they  call  us  to  follow  the  national  colors.  Certainly,  if  that 
beloved  banner  should  be  spread  by  order  of  this  government  even  in  so 
wild  an  adventure,  we  should  be  bound  to  follow  it,  and  in  weal  or  in  wo,  to 
stand  by  it,  die  npon  54°  40',  and  make  its  snows  our  winding-sheet.  But 
the  tug  of  war  would  not  be  at  the  line  of  54°  40'.  Once  get  the  country 
plunged  into  a  war  with  Great  Britain,  and  the  deadly  blow  would  fall  on 
the  eastern,  not  the  western  coast  of  this  continent.  There  the  first  blow 
would  be  struck,  there  the  second,  and  there  the  last.  No  doubt  if  war 
should  come,  the  country  would  defend  itself  as  it  best  could,  u^u  with  char- 
acteristic intrepidity.  Of  this  the  history  of  our  last  war  furnished  a  suf- 
ficient pledge.  They  would  stand  by  their  Government  just  as  a  father  would 
stand  by  a  rash  reckless  son,  who  had  brought  himself  into  a  difficulty,  when  his 
life  was  at  hazard.  He  would  not  forsake  his  son,  however  much  he  might 
regret  and  disapprove  the  course  which  brought  him  into  such  a  perilous 
position. 

The  Senator  from  Missouri  (Mr.  Atchison)  had  said,  if  Mr.  M.  did  not 
misunderstand  him,  that  he  would  fight  Great  Britain  even  on  a  doubtful 
claim.  Mr.  M.  regretted  to  hear  such  a  declaration :  he  hoped  the  honor- 
able Senator  was  not  serious  in  making  it.  What,  go  to  war  on  a  doubt  7 
Lo  *    5'hould  settle  doubts — war  settle  rights. 

Bring  two  such  nations  as  England  and  the  United  States  into  a  mortal 
struggle  to  settle  a  doubtfiji  right !  The  worthy  Senator  must  have  been  led 
away  by  his  zeal.  Surely  it  was  the  extreme  of  patriotism  to  die  for  one's 
country  on  a  point  of  doubt.  For  his  own  part,  Mr.  M.  would  not  even  ad- 
vise a  client  to  go  to  law  upon  a  doubtful  claim. 

He  had  said  that  nothing  but  folly  or  wickedness  could  get  up  a  war  on 
this  question,  and  therefore  it  was  that  he  believed  we  should  have  no  war, 
because  he  trusted  that  the  wisdom  and  virtue  of  the  country  would  pre- 
vent it. 

The  Senator  from  Arkansas  (Mr.  Sevier)  had  said  that  the  real  point  of 
difference  was  a  very  narrow  one  ;  that  it  consisted  merely  in  the  right  to 
navigate  the  Columbia  river.     That  river  was  said  not  to  be  navigable  at 


16 


all ;  however  this  might  be,  could  it  1)c  possible  that  on  a  question  so  insig. 
nificant  as  that  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  were  about  to  disturb  their 
present  peaceful  relations,  endanger  the  peace  of  the  world,  and  to  hazard 
upon  the  chances  of  war  the  final  success  of  that  great  cause  which  it  had 
hitherto  been  the  pride  and  r\oTy  of  the  two  nations  to  sustain  and  vin- 
dicatc,  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  No,  never.  Where  was 
the  use  of  having  negotiators  and  statemen  at  all,  if  such  a  question  as 
this  could  not  be  settled  without  war  ? 

The  great  practical  principle  thai  was  now  admitted  by  the  entire  civi- 
lized  world  was  this,  that  it  was  the  highest  duty  of  nations  to  preserve 
the  peace  of  the  world.  To  this  proposition  Mr.  M.  would  affix  no  quali- 
fication whatever ;  he  could  not,  because  peace  secured  the  greatest  good 
of  the  greatest  number.  Gentlemen  said  honor,  not  peace,  was  the  highest 
concern  of  a  nation ;  but  honor  was  merely  conventional.  What  one  nation 
considered  honorable,  another  did  not ;  what  one  nation  might  think  itself 
bound  to  maintain  at  the  hazard  of  life  itself,  another  might  consider  as  a 
ridiculous  point  of  pride.  But  t>eace — peace  was  a  blessing  known  and  felt 
and  admitted  by  all.  Kings  and  princes  might  discuss  points  of  honor  and 
go  to  war  upon  fancies ;  but  peace,  glorious,  blessed  peace,  shone  like  the 
sun  in  the  heavens  alike  upon  high  and  low,  and  cheered  with  its  benign 
influences  as  well  the  humble  cot  of  the  poor  man  as  the  splendid  palace 
of  the  monarch.  Mr.  M.  therefore  insisted  on  the  great  political  and 
Christian  maxim  that  the  highest  duty  of  nations  was  to  preserve  peace. 
Peace  was  the  great  mission  of  God's  own  son  to  man,  and  the  song  of 
angels  was  "  Peace  on  earth,  good  will  towards  men."  It  is  therefore  the 
highest  duty  of  man  to  God  to  maintain  peace  on  earth.  That  nation  that 
would  now  disturb  the  peace  of  the  christian  world  would  richly  deserve,  and 
•would  certainly  receive,  the  unqualified  condemnation  of  all  goodmen.  It  was 
■written,  indeed,  that  "offences  would  come  ;"  but  it  was  also  written 
"  wo  to  that  man  by  whom  the  offence  cometh." 

The  President  had    commenced  his   annual  message  with  a  tixie  and 
striking  picture  of  the  happy  condition  of  our  country.     Hear  his  words  : 
"I  am  happy  that  I  can  congratulate  you  on  the  continued  prosperity  of 
our  country.     Under  the  blessings  of  Divine  Providence  and  the  benign 
influence  of  our  free  institutions,  it  stands  before  the  world  a  spectacle  of 
national   happiness." 

And  what  had  produced  this  glorious  spectacle  ?     Not  war.     No,  it  was 
not  the  fruits  of  tne  bloody  battle-field.     It  is  all  the  work  of  a  great  peo- 
ple dwelling  in  peace  with  themselves  and  the  world.     It  is  the  mightty 
result  of  the  labor  and  enterprise  of  our  agriculturists,  mechanics,  laborers, 
merchants,  and  manufacturers,  exerted   and  called  out  in  time  of  peace, 
under  the  protection  of  wise  laws  and  the  fostering  care  of  a  free  Govern- 
ment.    It  was  a  glorious,  a  heart- warming  spectacle,  and  it  was  the  high- 
est duty  of  the  rulers  of  such  a  people  to  preserve  to  them  that  inestima- 
ble blessing — not  to   mar  it  by   exciting   them  to  strife,  and  "  preparing 
their  hearts  for  war."     Should  the  Chief  Magistrate,  who  had  presented 
this  bright  picture   before   the   world,   be  able  afler  occupying  his  high 
station  for  four  years,  to  retire  and  present  it  unblemished  and  yet  bright- 
er to  his  successor,  he  woulu  deser>e  and  receive  the  lasting  gratitude  of 
a  great  and  happy  nation. 


I  80  insigo 
jturb  their 
to  hazard 
ch  it  had 
and  vin- 
here  was 
jestion  as 

[itire  civi- 
I  preserve 
c  no  quali- 
atest  good 
he  highest 
one  nation 
think  itself 
isider  as  a 
vn  and  felt 
honor  and 
le  like  the 
its  benign 
did  palace 
litical  and 
rve  peace, 
le  song  of 
erefore  the 
nation  that 
3serve,  and 
in.     It  was 
Iso  written 


a  true  and 
his  words : 
•osperity  of 
Lhe  benign 
spectacle  of 

No,  it  was 
I  great  peo- 
the  mightty 
;s,  laborers, 
J  of  peace, 
ee  Govern- 
s  the  high- 
it  inestima- 
"  preparing 
d  presented 
[)g  his  high 
I  yet  bright- 
gratitude  of 


